some bloke
- 290
- 103
- TL;DR
- I'm trying to design an egg timer which will actually sound an alarm when it goes off.
Hi everyone,
I'm trying to come up with a method for designing a classic egg-timer (falling sand) which will sound an alarm when it goes off. The alarm itself is going to be some contraption akin to a Rube-Goldberg machine, which I can design after I work out how to mechanically detect when an egg timer has run out. Making noise isn't the problem here -detecting when an egg timer runs out is!
My first thought on this was to have the egg timer suspended in a tube of water, and I initially thought that it would float higher in the water as the sand poured down, as its center of gravity would change. I have since worked out that this wouldn't happen - the mass of the egg timer would not change, so it wouldn't change how high it floats in the water - thus my first thought is foiled from the off!
I am after ideas on how to mechanically detect an egg-timer running out. One option would be to put something in the path of the falling sand, so that when the sand stops flowing it would swing back to a position. Another option I am looking at is making an egg timer in two pieces, so that as one side fills up its weight can trigger a mechanism.
I am also considering how to make this in a different manner entirely - my goal is a mechanical timer which sounds an alarm when it is finished. I could use a viscous fluid and have something sink through it, or any other means of giving a reproducible time effect. If I can, I want it to be adjustable on time, but I'm not getting my hopes up on that one! Just a mechanically detectable egg timer type thing would be ideal! And no electricity!
Do you have any ideas that would fit the bill here? Any suggestions I can look into?
I'm trying to come up with a method for designing a classic egg-timer (falling sand) which will sound an alarm when it goes off. The alarm itself is going to be some contraption akin to a Rube-Goldberg machine, which I can design after I work out how to mechanically detect when an egg timer has run out. Making noise isn't the problem here -detecting when an egg timer runs out is!
My first thought on this was to have the egg timer suspended in a tube of water, and I initially thought that it would float higher in the water as the sand poured down, as its center of gravity would change. I have since worked out that this wouldn't happen - the mass of the egg timer would not change, so it wouldn't change how high it floats in the water - thus my first thought is foiled from the off!
I am after ideas on how to mechanically detect an egg-timer running out. One option would be to put something in the path of the falling sand, so that when the sand stops flowing it would swing back to a position. Another option I am looking at is making an egg timer in two pieces, so that as one side fills up its weight can trigger a mechanism.
I am also considering how to make this in a different manner entirely - my goal is a mechanical timer which sounds an alarm when it is finished. I could use a viscous fluid and have something sink through it, or any other means of giving a reproducible time effect. If I can, I want it to be adjustable on time, but I'm not getting my hopes up on that one! Just a mechanically detectable egg timer type thing would be ideal! And no electricity!
Do you have any ideas that would fit the bill here? Any suggestions I can look into?
